THE 


INAUGUEATION 


OF  THE 


PATHOLOGICAL  BUILDING 


OF  THE 


I^E  W    YORK,    OCTOBER    25,  1856. 


Rep  ri  XI  ted   from  tlie   Xcav  Yorit  Journal   of  Medicine. 


NEW  YORK: 
WILEY  &  HALSTED,  3*51  BROADWAY, 
185G. 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


to  serve  1  year  from  January  1,  1856. 

U      li      2  " 


Simeon  Draper, 
Isaac  Bell,  " 

Anthony  Dugro,        "  "     2    "  "  " 

WashixNGton  Smith,   '*  '*     2    "  "  " 

Isaac  Townsend,  3    "  "  " 

Wm.  S.  Duke,  3    "  "  " 

Daniel  F.  Tiemann,    -  4    "  "  " 

Jos.  S.  Taylor,  "     4    "  "          "  '''' 

Isaac  J.  Oliver,        "  5    "  "  " 

C.  Godfrey  Gunther,  "  5    "  '*          "  " 
Simeon  Draper  is  the  President,  and  C.  Godfrey  Gunther  the  Secretary 
of  the  Board ;  Edwin  B.  Corwin,  Chief  Clerk ;  Joshua  PhiUips,  Clerk  to 

Governor  ;  Samuel  R.  Spelman,  Supply  Clerk  ;  Corns.  M.  Kellock,  Mes- 
senger. 


1856. 


Consulting  Pliysicians. 

John  W.  Francis,  M.D.,  LL.D., 

Fresident  of  the  Medical  Board. 
Isaac  Wood,  M.D. 


Pliysicians. 

Alonzo  Clark,  M.D. 
John  T.  Metcalfe,  M.D. 
Ben  J.  W.  McCready,  M.D. 
Isaac  E.  Taylor,  M.D. 
Geo.  T.  Elliot,  Jr.,  M.D. 
B.  Fordyce  Barker.  M.D. 


Consulting  Surgeons. 

Valentine  Mott,  M.D.,  LL.D. 
Alex.  H.  Stevens,  M.D.,  LL.D. 


Surgeons. 
James  R.  Wood,  M.D. 
Willard  Parker,  M.D, 
Chas.  D.  Smith,  M.D. 
John  J.  Crane,  M.D. 
Lewis  A.  Sayre,  M.D, 
John  A.  Lidell,  M.D, 
Stephen  Smith,  M.D. 


INAUGURATION 


Saturday  the  25tli  of  October,  1S5G,  is  likely  to  be  long  re- 
membered by  the  friends  of  medical  and  surgical  science.  The 
new  and  commodious  edifice  recently  finished  by  our  able  Board  of 
Governors,  for  the  accommodation  of  the  various  purposes  con- 
nected with  the  Bellevue  Hospital,  was  opened  on  that  day  to  a 
large  assembly  of  the  students  of  medical,  surgical,  and  obstetrical 
science,  and  the  judicious  arrangements  of  that  portion  of  the  build- 
ing designed  for  public  instruction  presented  in  its  crowded  auditory 
a  sight  most  gratifying  to  the  enlightened  Board  of  Governors,  and 
the  Faculty  of  Instruction.  The  disciples  of  the  several  schools  of 
Medicine  in  New  York,  those  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons— of  the  New  York  University — and  of  the  Thirteenth  Street 
Medical  College,  formed  a  body  of  some  three  hundred  and  upwards, 
who  occupied  the  seats  of  the  theatre  arranged  for  anatomical  and 
pathological  instruction.  The  several  physicians  and  surgeons  of  the 
Bellevue  Hospital  were  in  attendance  as  well  as  the  prominent  mem- 
bers of  the  several  Colleges. 

The  special  business  of  the  day  was  announced  by  an  address  to  the 
large  audfence  by  John  W.  Francis,  M.D.,  LL.I>.^the  President  of  the 
Medical  Board.  He  gave  a  concise  history  of  the  first  introduction  of 
clinical  instruction  in  Great  Britain,  and  of  the  practical  labors  of  the 
late  eminent  Dr.  Saunders,  of  London,  to  whom  was  awarded  the 
claims  of  having  been  the  original  projector  of  clinical  lectures  at 
Guy's  Hospital,  now  nearly  a  century  ago.  The  vast  advantage  of 
that  species  of  instruction  v/as  dwelt  upon  by  the  venerable  speaker, 
who  related  some  interesting  incidents  on  the  subj<3ct,  a  knowledge  of 
which  he  had  derived  from  the  lips  of  Br.  Saunders  himself  in  his 
interviews  with  him  at  his  retreat  at  Enfield,  some  forty  years  since. 

With  a  letter  of  introduction,  said  Dr.  Francis,  furnished  me  by  Dr. 
Samuel  Bard,  the  second  President  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  and  who  had  been  a  fellow»pupil  with  Saunders  at  Edin- 
burgh, I  approached  him  with  due  reverence.  He  was  now  at  least 
midway  between  seventy  and  eighty  years  old.  He  surpassed  the 
ordinary  size,  and,  I  think,  might  have  had  the  bulk  of  some  two 
hundred  pounds  and  more.  His  countenance  was  of  a  sweet  and 
benignant  aspect,  with  almost  the  freshness  of  youth  ;  his  features 


4 


regular  and  well  proportioned ;  his  front  full  and  elevated  :  bis 
nose  was  well  proportioned,  and  Lis  gray  eyes,  arched  with  thick 
brows,  bespoke  intelligence.  I  saw  no  hirsute  developments  about 
him,  save  his  ample  locks  of  driven  snow,  and  his  formidable  queu,  of 
at  least  one  inch  in  diameter,  and  extending  down  his  back  to  the 
verge  of  the  sacral  region.  It  needed  but  little  elongation  to  make  a 
respectable  walking  cane.  His  hand  had  the  delicacy  of  a  lady's. 
He  wore  a  full-dressed  black  coat,  with  large  side  pockets,  a  yellow 
vest,  black  silk  breeches,  and  broad  silver  shoe  buckles.  His  whole 
bearing  seemed  like  that  of  a  gentleman  of  superior  talents,  retired 
from  an  eminent  position.  With  an  utterance  somewhat  grave,  yet 
free  and  distinct,  he  spoke  of  his  collegiate  days  at  Edinburgh  with 
his  associate  Bard.  He  spoke  of  the  London  schools  of  his  earlier 
days  with  those  of  the  present  time  ;  of  his  career  as  a  clinical  teacher  ; 
of  John  Hunter ;  the  prospects  of  the  American  schools,  etc.  All 
that  he  said  was  delivered  with  a  deep  conviction  of  the  sober  trusts 
that  had  been  confided  to  him,  and  with  au  emphatic  and  distinct 
articulation.  Such  was  Dr.  AYilliam  Saunders,  the  author  of  one  of 
our  most  popular  text-books  in  myvStudent's  day  ;  chronologically  the 
y7r5i  clinical  instructor  of  London.  As  he  had,  during  his  long  life 
and  prominent  situation,  imparted  knowledge  to  many,  of  the  men  ^f 
our  own  land  whose  renown  has  reached  you,  I  could  not  but  give 
these  reminiscences  of  him.  The  reflections  which  arise  in  contem- 
plating this  old  teacher,  the  first  who  installed  clinical  science  as  a 
distinct  branch  of  the  profession,  I  must  leave  within  your  own 
bosoms.  YoUj  gentlemen,  come  here  from  remote  parts,  and  I  thought 
you  would  like  to  know  something  of  the  2:)ersond  of  Dr.  Saunders. 

It  has  been  often  said  that  the  organization  of  an  Italian  opera,  de- 
manded a  combination  of  talents  which  could  be  the  result  only  of  a  . 
union  of  artistic  powers  of  the  highest  order,  and  that  such  a  work 
gave  assurance  of  the  combined  wisdom  and  genius  of  man  superior  to 
any  other  proofs  of  his  emotional  and  reasoning  faculties.  By  the 
lovers  of  the  melodious  strain  and  of  expressive  harmony,  this  encomium 
may  be  received  as  justifiable  of  the  various  emotions ;  yet  I  think  I 
am  warranted  to  affirm,  from  along  survey  of  humanity,  that  institu- 
tions, such  as  those  to  which  our  common  labors  are  appropriated,  arc 
the  very  essence  of  that  Christianity  we  profess  to  recognize  as  a  ruling 
power — the  active  principle  of  social  relationship  and  of  individual 
virtue  :  they  concentrate,  if  I  may  be  allowed  so  to  express  myself, 
the  very  marrow  of  the  laws  of  Mount  Sinai,  and  the  doctrines  of 
Him  who  came  with  healing  on  His  wings.    Can  you  tell  mc  of  a  sub- 


5 

limer  sight  than  that  of  Cheselden,  whose  name  3-ou  must  revere  as 
among  the  illustrious  in  our  profession,  conducting  in  the  closest  bonds 
of  friendship,  the  bard  of  all  time  the  tuneful  Pope,  in  his  visitation 
through  the  Hospital  to  survey,  as  the  proper  study  of  man,  the  sickness 
and  the  sorrows,  the  hopes  and  the  triumphs  of  the  Chelsea  pensioners, 
under  the  treatment  of  that  great  master,  whose  skill,  like  the  miracle 
of  his  Redeemer,  poured  eye-sight  on  the  blind.  Mozart  and  Ros- 
sini may  have  exalted  our  feelings  to  an  immeasurable  hight,  and 
overwhelmed  the  tenderest  sensibilities  of  the  soul,  and  softened,  by 
cadences,  the  roughest  nature.  Our  glorious  Cheselden  challenges  a 
still  loftier  recognition,  and  a  future  Reubens  and  Leonardo  might  find 
in  his  active  life  a  befitting  tlieme  for  their  grandest  conceptions. 

But  the  circumstances  of  the  hour  forbid  enlargement  on  the  dig- 
nity and  the  graces  which  hospitals  stamp  upon  the  humanities  of 
the  age.    We  are  now  to  glance  a  little  more  professionally  at  the  sub- 
ject.   How  much  has  medical  and  surgical  science  abroad  been  pro- 
moted by  this  organization  !    In  our  own  country  like  evidence  of 
their  great  utility  is  daily  demonstrated.    Our  greatest  physicians,  as 
well  as  our  greatest  surgeons,  have,  with  few  exceptions,  been  schooled 
in  such  institutions ;  and  the  wholesome  exhibition  presented  before 
us  to-day  of  almost  an  army  of  young  men  watching  the  operations  of 
the  surgeon's  knife  and  listening  to  his  practical  precepts,  from  his 
verbal  disquisitions,  furnish  a  contrast  most  cheering  to  the  friends  of 
science  and  humanity,  compared  with  times  gone  by,  when  a  Hunter 
and  a  Fordyce  lectured  to  classes  amounting  to  not  more  than  a  dozen 
or  twenty  hearers.     Our  Bellevue  Hospital,  added  the  speaker, 
embraces  every  appliance  the  student  needs;  ample  room,  diseases  of 
every  variety  in  nosological  nomenclature,  accidents  of  every  species 
for  surgical  manipulation  ;  all  for  the  triumphs  of  clinical  science, 
medical  and  chirurgical,  such  as  few  other  institutions  can  boast,  and 
surpassing  in  numbers  almost  every  other  establishment  of  a  similar 
nature  throughout  our  wide-spread  republic.    In  making  these  obser- 
vations, (added  Dr.  F.,)  let  us  not  forget  the  arduous  labors  and 
services  of  the  distinguished  men,  our  predecessors,  who  have  toiled 
in  this  best  of  causes  : — Prs.  Isaac  Wood,  Benjamin  Ogden,  David  M. 
Reese,  and  others,  and  let  us  remember,  with  gratitude,  hov.  for 
years  past,  our  present  associates  have  devoted  their  time  and  talents 
in  the  furtherance  of  this  great  design.    The  reputation  of  New  York 
in  the  domain  of  surgery  stands  on  a  broad  foundation.    Her  Mott, 
liQjc  Stevens,  her  Post,  her  Kissam,  are  not  to  be  overlooked,  when 
the  records  of  scientific  surgery  are  unfolded  for  your  contemplation- 


6 


I  hesitate  not  to  say,  concluded  the  speaker,  that  this  present  new 
and  commodious  arrangement  for  clinical  knowledge  will  prove  a  per- 
manent blessing  to  the  afflicted  poor  and  the  helpless  sufferer,  as  well 
as  to  your  intellectual  and  professional  distinction  ;  and,  I  am  thrice 
happy  to  add,  that  for  the  special  assistance  which  has  so  happily 
brought  to  such  an  issue  this  worthy  design,  there  is  not  one  of  you 
who  will  not  speak  in  accents  of  gratitude  and  regard  the  name  of  our 
liberal  and  enlightened  cooperator,  Surgeon  James  Wood.  Conflict- 
ing elements  have  yielded  to  his  energetic  action ;  discordaflt  views 
have  harmonized  with  his  wiser  deliberations  ;  the  constituted  author- 
ities have  yielded  to  his  benevolent  requests,  and  the  new  edifice  is 
now  ready  for  your  benefit.  Gentlemen,  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  to  this  assembly  Dr.  Valentine  Mott,  &o  long  and  so 
widely  "known  in  both  worlds  as  the  unrivaled  operator  in  surgery. 
Amidst  great  cheering,  Professor  Mott  came  forward. 

Dii.  Mott  congratulated  the  large  convention  of  students  who  filled 
the  Hall,  on  the  auspicious  circumstances  which  marked  the  day  ;  he 
spoke  at  some  length  of  the  value  of  clinical  knowledge  as  the  only 
basis  of  sound  practice,  both  m  medicine  and  surgery,  and  referred  to 
the  earlier  period  of  his  professional  career,  when^  in  1810,  he  first 
projected,  in  Columbia  College,  a  course  of  Clinical  Surgery  in  New 
York.  He  had  ever  considered  it  the  only  safe  and  reliable  method 
to  make  a  sound  and  effective  operator.  Yet  this  surgery  must,  like 
every  department  of  the  art,  be  founded  on  anatomical  knowledge, 
and  this  only  could  be  obtained  by  the  severest  toil  and  devotion  in 
the  dissecting  room.  Days  and  nights,  nay  years,  may  be  appropri- 
ated to  the  investigations  which  the  scalpel  unfolds,  in  order  to  render 
our  surgical  designs  triumphant.  With  becoming  deference  he  paid 
the  tribute  of  the  highest  praise  to  his  late  associate  in  hospital  and 
collegiate  duties.  Dr.  Wright  Post ;  his  anatomy  was  his  passport ; 
on  that  he  (Dr.  P.)  had  built  his  far-famed  renown  as  a  surgeon. 
Professor  Mott  then  added,  I  will  now  proceed,  without  further  intro- 
duction, to  give  you,  with  the  cadaver  before  me,  the  anatomy  of  her- 
nia. The  distinguished  teacher  then  fulfilled  his  design,  with  an  ani- 
mation and  an  earnestness  that  convinced  his  audience  that  in  his 
hands  the  art  of  teaching  had  not  lost  its  skill  after  a  devotion  of  fifty 
years,  and  that  time  had  not  impaired  either  his  manual  dexterity,  or 
his  descriptive  powers. 

Prof.  Stevens,  late  President  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons,  so  long  known  in  the  chirurgical  world,  was  then  introduced. 
He  said  he  had  little  to  add  to  the  remarks  which  had  been  already 


7 


offered  on  this  most  interesting  occasion.  He  full}'  coincided  in  the 
enlarged  views  which  had  been  presented  at  this  meeting  in  behalf  of 
the  value  of  clinical  knowledge,  and  congratulated  the  students  upon 
the  ample  means  now  presented  them  to  prosecute  their  studies  in  the 
most  successful  manner,  to  secure  their  laudable  designs.  He  was 
aware  how  years  had  rolled  on,  how  many  efforts  had  been  made,  and 
how  devoted  had  been  his  colleagues  to  secure  the  noble  object  with 
which  they  had  at  first  set  out.  The  work  is  now  finished,  and  thanks 
to  the  unceasing  efforts,  in  a  great  degree,  of  our  friend.  Dr.  James  R. 
Wood ;  and  you,  gentlemen,  are  to  be  the  favored  recipients  of  all  these 
advantages.  Let  your  devotion  be  as  sincere  as  the  efforts  of  our 
Medical  Board  have  been  praiseworthy.  Our  pride  will  be  to  behold 
you  going  forth  to  answer  your  responsible  duties,  appropriately  dis- 
ciplined in  the  learning  of  our  science,  and  in  an  especial  manner  with 
that  wisdom  which  clinical  experience  alone  yields. 

Prof.  Willard  Parker,  upon  invitation,  addressed  the  meetiug, 
with  a  conviction  that  at  leno^th  the  medical  students  could  here  resort 
with  safety  and  with  profit  for  clinical  knowledge.  ^Ye  abound  in 
great  charities  for  the  relief  of  the  suffering  poor,  and  for  the  treat' 
ment  of  their  infirmities,  physical  and  mental.  Our  New  York  Hos- 
pitals, said  the  Professor,  challenges  our  highest  regard  as  a  noble 
charity,  and  as  a  great  clinical  school.  He  enumerated  many  others 
of  the  large  and  commodious  institutions  with  which  our  city  abounds, 
as  the  Bloomingdale  Asylum,  the  Emigrant  Hospital,  St.  Lnke's  Hos- 
pital, all  un5er  a  wise  control  for  the  interests  of  humanity,  for  the 
cure  of  disease,  for  the  advancement  of  medical  science,  and  to  lessen 
in  every  way  the  ills  to  which  "  fiesh  is  heir  to."  He  detailed  with 
much  minuteness  the  various  efforts  which  from  time  to  time  had  been 
adopted  to  promote  the  advancement  of  the  students  of  medicine  and 
surgery,  and  he  now  congratulated  them  that  the  work  was  completed, 
and  the  end  worthy  of  the  labor.  "  Finis  coronat  opus.''  The 
several  individuals  who  had  promoted  this  good  cause  were  passed  in 
review  before  him;  the  Board  of  Governors,  he  was  rejoiced  to  ^ay. 
had  tendered  to  them  all  that  could  be  desired,  and  the  Medical  Board 
could  not  but,  in  return,  offer  them  their  grateful  homage.  In  con- 
clusion, said  Dr.  Parker,  let  us  not  overlook  the  fact,  that  for  those 
blessings,  for  so  I  must  call  them,  great  as  is  our  obligation  to  many, 
we,  of  all  others  that  might  be  enumerated,  are  most  indebted  to  Dr. 
Wood;  he  has  never  wearied  nor  ever  tired  in  his  charitable  and  be- 
neficent design.  The  address  of  Dr.  P.  was  of  some  length,  and 
listened  to  with  interest.    Loud  call  was  now  made  for  Dr.  Wood. 


8 


Dr.  James  R.  "Wood,  so  long  a  prominent  surgeon  of  the  Bellevue 
Hospital  arose  and  thanked  the  audience  for  the  tokens  of  approval 
for  his  services  which  they  now  so  freely  gave.    He  said  he  had  for 
nearly  twenty  years  given  much  of  his  time,  and  his  humble  abili- 
ties to  bring  about  the  favorable  result  which  they  now  had  before 
them.    No  city  of  the  Union  presents  so  many  opportunities  for  the 
promotion  of  the  medical  and  surgical  art,  nowhere  are  there  ma- 
terials to  build  up  a  great  practical  school  of  scientific  medicine,  greater 
than  in  this  city,  nowhere  has  the  student  greater  opportunities  for 
practical  study.    I  early  saw  that  these  advantages  were  within  our 
reach,  added  Dr.  W.,  and  I  am,  while  fully  alive  to  the  services  of  my 
colleagues,  not  backward  in  affirming  that  amidst  great  disheartenings 
at  various  times,  I  have  always  borne  a  cheerful  spirit  that  the  day 
would  arrive  when  you,  gentlemen,  would  be  able  to  possess  the  ad- 
vantages which  we  this  day  present  for  your  acceptance.     Dr.  W. 
detailed  many  circumstances  occurring  during  the  past  twenty  years, 
connected  with  the  modified  plans  of  improvements  which  had  been  in 
part  rejected  and  in  part  adopted,  until  with  the  concurrence  and  aid 
of  the  Board  of  Crovernors,  the  ample  arrangement  now  effected  had 
been  permanently  secured.    I  am  most  solicitous,  added  Dr.  W.,  that 
these  apartments  shall  also  contain  a  museum  of  morbid  anaton-ry,  and 
I  solicit  that  every  member  of  our  profession  who  may  obtain  such  a 
specimen,  will  add  it  to  our  collection.    Little  time  will  elapse  ere 
such  a  museum  must  become  a  treasure  of  inestimable  importance. 
The  laws  of  the  state  passed  not  long  ago,  under  most  judicious  lim- 
itation, has  made  the  fullest  provision  for  the  materials  of  our  labors  : 
an  Hospital,  that  at  a  commmon  average,  finds  accommodations  for 
j?ome  six  or  seven  thousand  individuals,  annually,  afflicted  with  every 
variety  of  medical  or  surgical  infirmity,  it  must  be  admitted,  cannot 
but  furnish  a  great  field  for  the  noblest  humanity  in  the  two-fold  act  of 
healing  and  instruction. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  address.  Dr.  Wood  announced  to  the  stu- 
dents of  the  tliree  medical  colleges  of  this  city  that  two  premiums,  one 
of  fifty  dollars,  and  the  other  of  twenty-five  dollars  would  be  awarded  by 
liim  for  the  two  best  anatomical  preparations,  prepared  and  presented 
by  them  to  the  proposed  Museum  :  the  decision  on  the  merits  of  the 
several  preparations  to  be  made  by  the  respective  surgical  and  ana- 
tomical professors  of  the  Colleges,  and  a  suitable  testimonial  to  the 
successful  competitors  be  given,  signed  by  the  said  professors. 
Dr.  Wood  sat  down  amidst  the  cheers  of  a  gratified  audience. 
After  some  minor  business  was  transacted  the  meeting  adjourned. 


